The Rose Paladin
by GemmaCartney
Summary: Voltron has always had six Paladins, Blue: Water, Red: Fire, Yellow: Earth, Green: Nature, Black: Sky and Pink: Light. However, the Pink Lion foresaw that it's "Picky-ness" would cause the King to choose a Paladin for it. Refusing to be forced it simply disappeared into somewhere unknown. Lost to all...until it found a young boy in the Desert.
1. Prologue

_Two short figures race through the burning town, ignoring the sinister red sky and the animalistic growls from the horrific creatures that were chasing them. One of the two, a young boy with brown hair and eyes, looks behind them with a panicked expression on his face as he turned to the second person. Who was a young girl with the same hair and eye color as him but with a slightly lighter shade. "Connie! They're gaining on us!"_

_The girl panted, "Just keep running! We're almost at the beach!"_

_They jumped over a fallen telephone pole, ignoring the people next to it in some sort of crystal, their frozen faces revealing their fear. The creatures maneuvered around and over their obstacles, miraculously leaving the crystallized citizens unscathed. _

_The boy and girl were near the shore, which had a bunch of random machinery and medical equipment scattered on it, as if it was suppose to be a make-shift lab. Near one of the beds was a pink lion that seemed to be sleeping. Seeing the big cat, the boy waved his hands in the air frantically, "LION!" _

_Startled at the shout, the cotton candy colored lion jumped up, glancing in the two's direction before it's eyes widened at the numerous creatures behind them. Not wasting any time, it ran over to the boy and girl as quickly as it could, only reaching a quarter of the way there, before the boy stumbled and clutched his left arm with his right. "AGH! Connie! It's spreading! You're gonna have to go without me!" He yelled. _

_But, The brunette shook her head, "NO WAY! LION! QUICKLY!" At her command, it increased it's speed until it was halfway in front of them. Connie reached out her left hand to his right in determination. "You __know_ _this is the answer to that problem!" Steven shook his head, "But, not __forever__! Not unless we stay fused!" The brunette wrenched his right arm so she could clasp his hand in her left's. "Exactly! I don't want to lose you Steven! And if staying fused is the answer...I'll take it!"_

_The boy looked to the girl, then to their hands, before hesitantly nodding his head. After a glowing pink light surrounds the two, it dissipates to reveal a beautiful teenage girl with long, Auburn hair and chocolate eyes. She rubbed the long sleeve on her left arm momentarily, before sprinting close to the lion._

_Once she was close enough, she jumped onto it's back, yelling, "NOW!" _

_The lion roared as it's eyes glowing a lighter shade of pink and a glowing pink portal opened in behind the two. They quickly turned around and jumped through the portal, just before it closed and the creatures crashed into each other from the attempted capture. Everything was silent, with the exception of the wind and the growls from the monsters. _

_The waves lightly washed against the shore, slightly drenching the machinery and medical equipment with salt water, as the abandoned house underneath the giant lady statue was filled with pieces of broken furniture and wood. The marble teleporting pad was cracked harshly right in the middle and the gems on the door to the temple were all a dull grey._

_Back outside, the sky began to darken, as a tear was shed of the lower left eye from the giant lady statue._

—

_Meanwhile another boy and girl, the boy seemed to be much older than the girl and were practically each other's doppelgänger, walked happily down the beach on a cool night, chatting and laughing as they do so. Then, a flash of light blinded the two for a moment, making them stop what they were doing as they covered their eyes._

_When the light died out, they carefully take their hands away, only for their eyes to widen dramatically as they see a long haired, brunette girl with a pink gem, where her belly button is suppose to be, sleeping against a large and very pink lion. Who watched the two closely. The girl gulped slightly in nervousness as she opened her mouth, "Well, I think this day just got more interesting Matt."_

—

_**A/N: WOW...what happened to Beach City? Where are Amethyst, Garnet and Pearl? How did the residents get crystallized? Well, I guess we will find out...in TWENTY CHAPTERS! MWAHAHAHAHA! **_

**_JK, I haven't decided when to actually do the whole 'revealing Steven and Connie's past' thing yet. But, it WILL be a little while. So be patient young padawans. The time will come. One day..._**

**_ Also, this story will be a bit of an AU fic, mainly due to both my desire to write down a few original or inspired-by chapters, and because of Stevonnie's presence. Oh! Speaking of which, I decided to de-age Steven and Connie, so that they would be their original ages throughout the story. In the Prologue, Steven was 12 while Connie was 10._**

**_I also have a theory that Stevonnie's age is a combination of Steven and Connie's age (excluding adding another ten years) like, in Canon, Steven is 14 and Connie is 12. So (excluding the ten years) you do 2 plus 4 and you get 6, which makes Stevonnie 16...I think...so she would be 14 in the Prologue. I'm sorry if it doesn't make any sense, but, that's what I'm going with. _**

**_I'm also wondering about Stevonnie's birthday. Like, should I use the date of when her episode first came up, or what? Please, leave the suggestions in the comments about which date I should use and why._**

**_Btw, in case your wondering, I have already written this fic on My other account _**

**_on Quotev AGES ago, I'll update it soon, just need to get back into the groove of things :)_**


	2. New Day, Pt I

—_**Two Years Later—**_

In a large building in the middle of nowhere, there was a medical lab that had a teenage girl with beautiful long hair that was the color of chocolate, along with her matching chocolate eyes, squinted her eyes in concentration downwards at a table. Another girl, who was almost as beautiful as she, had short blonde hair and soft emerald eyes, and peeked around the brunette's left side in fright.

"Head Medical Officer Holt, please be careful! This is a delicate procedure!" The blonde squeaked out in worry.

H.M.O Holt's right eye twitched slightly as she growled in frustration, "I _know_, Assistant Medical Officer Martinez, you've told me for the _twentieth_ time now. Please stop distracting me." A.M.O Martinez raised her hands to her mouth, whispering out a "sorry" as a young and very dark haired, man approached the H.M.O's right side, looking through a holographic pad as he raised his deep voice.

"Ma'am, the scanners show that the infection is beginning to swell up at an alarming rate. What should we do?"

The brunette lifted her head, her focus remaining on the table, as she replied, "Administer the PQ-23-97, Assistant Medical Officer Smith, it should help the patient's immune system to some degree. Martinez, get the C3-O5-G12, in case something goes wrong."

The two left their positions, A.M.O Smith saying a "yes, ma'am" while A.M.O Martinez stuttered out a "a-at o-once ma'am."

Finally breaking her focus, H.M.O Holt looked to the two A.M.O's as they start to hook up two plastic bags that are filled with some sort of liquid, into the high-tech monitor next to the table. A.M.O Smith attaches his bag first, waiting for the machine to drain the bag completely with a successful 'ding' before chucking the empty bag in the bin.

A.M.O Martinez started to attach her bag as well. However, H.M.O Holt and A.M.O Smith's eyes widened as they noticed something off about it. Reaching out her hand, Holt tried to warn the blonde, "WAIT!" But, the bag was already drained and the machine gave a negative 'Buzz'

_"Simulation Over."_

The medical bay the three were in, disappeared to reveal an empty, white room, and an angry, elderly woman standing in the doorway with a small crowd of people behind her. The woman scowled at the three. "Well, looks like Martinez failed the test."

Martinez folded her fingers together in nervousness, "I-I'm s-sorry..." Smith scrunched up his face in distaste at the blonde as Holt smiled gently at her. "Hey, it's cool, you just need more practice no biggie." The elderly woman stomped in front of the trio, startling them, before she spoke, "'no biggie'? Holt, you are one of the best Medical Officers I have ever trained in my entire career! Despite your age, you could've been in a very high position by now! Along with the rest of my class." She gestured to the crowd near the doorway. "But, in order for me to pass _all _of the class, _every one _of you must pass _this _test! And unless _twitchy_ over here drops out or _suddenly _gets better, we have to go _back a year_!"

The crowd groaned and complained at the _ridiculous _rules of the Garrison. Holt sighed heavily, glancing down to her silver bracelet that had three rose charms attached to it, one was pink, the second was green and the last was brown.

—

"And that was my day."

Holt sighed, lying with her arms flat out on her bed as her long legs remain on the ground next to her bed, due to how tall she is. Her roommate, a _seemingly_ young boy with light brown hair and eyes with glasses, looked from across her bed to the tall brunette and her own bed, his back leaning against the wall as he had a laptop on his lap. He raised an eyebrow, "Wow, _everyone _has to pass?"

"Apparently so, Pidgey." She groaned.

'Pidgey' scowled at her, "Hey, quit calling me that." Holt smirked, sitting up as she then made a face. "'Hey, quit calling me that.'" She mocked, her voice sounding like Goofy. "I'm serious Casey!" He said sternly.

"'I'm serious Cas'—OW!" Casey pouted, rubbing her now-red forehead lightly. In her lap was a newly-acquired shoe that to belongs to 'Pidgey', she chucked the shoe back at the boy in retaliation, before speaking once more. "Okay, okay, _Pidge_, I'll stop."

Pidge re-adjusts his glasses from his sudden movement to avoid the shoe, "But, anyway, that is a weird rule to have. Why does _every _one in the class need to ace that test? If you guys already know so much about first aid, surgery and all that stuff, then isn't that enough?"

Casey shook her head. "Nope. The test is different, unlike the other ones, this is based in a 'all of the crew is dead and/or incapacitated but you and two others' sorta thing. It is the most important one out of all the others, if you pass it, then you are 100% _guaranteed_ to be a totally capable and independent Medical Officer. If you don't, then you gotta start _all over_ again. Ugh." She rubbed her eyes from the mix of stress and exhaustion.

Pidge frowned as he leaned his chin on his hand, "Well, at least _you _guys failed because of a misunderstanding." He grumbled. Casey winced in sympathy. "It was Lance, wasn't it?"

Pidge threw his arms in the air, "Yes! His reckless flying got Hunk to puke! And the worst part? Hunk used the engines as a barf bag!" Casey stuck her tongue out in disgust, gagging at the very _thought_ of seeing and smelling a gross puddle of—

***BEEP BEEP***

The two jumped, turning to the mini satellite-looking machine on the desk on Pidge's side of the room, that was spinning and flashing red. Glancing to each other in the corner of their eyes, they started to get dressed from their pajamas to their civilian attire.

—

A few minutes later, the two friends were found sitting on the roof of the Garrison, Pidge typing and checking his machinery while Casey wore a pair of advanced-looking headphones, scrunching her eyes in concentration to what she was hearing. Neither noticed a tanned young man's face going between them.

"You two came here to rock out?"

His sudden appearance surprised the two, causing Pidge to jump, though, his surprise to Casey...

"AHHH!"

***WHACK***

"OW!"

...ended up with him cradling his face, Casey's attack no doubt giving him immense pain. Said girl gasped and apologized sincerely with an embarrassed blush, as Pidge gave him an unimpressed stare. "Startling a H.M.O who has a _lot _of experience in dealing with rowdy patients and is a part-time Neo-Zoologist who studies vicious creatures first hand, _may_ not be a good idea, Lance."

The young man, now known as Lance, glared at the young genius.

Then the other—much bigger—young man, who Casey recognized as Pidge's second teammate, Hunk, spoke. "So, what were you guys doing?" Casey turned to the him, blush already fading away, as she answered. "Oh, uh...Pidge and I just like to chill out here sometimes."

During their conversation, the pain on Lance's face was able to dull down to a tolerable level and speak up, "Okay, One, Where did you get this stuff? And Two," He gave Casey a goofy, yet flirty, look as he leaned in close to her face. "Hello there~" the tall brunette scoffed playfully, softly pushing his face away, "Yeah, yeah, hi Lance."

Pidge cleared his throat as he straightened his back, "I built it." He stated proudly.

"You built all of this?" Hunk questioned, reaching out to touch Pidge's equipment...only for Pidge to slap his hand away. "Stop it! With this thing, I can scan all the way to the edge of the solar system." Lance quirked an eyebrow with a smirk, "That right? All the way to Kerberos?" Pidge averted his gaze, looking sheepish, as Lance continued. "You go ballistic every time the instructors bring it up. What's your deal?"

As if sensing Hunk's presence near his stuff, Pidge growled at the large guy, without even turning to look at him, "Second warning, Hunk!" He groaned in disappointment as he reluctantly crawls away, causing Casey to giggle in amusement at his antics. Ignoring his friend, Lance continued. "Look, Pidge, if we're gonna bond as a team, we can't have any secrets between us."

It was silent for a few moments, before Pidge spoke up with a sigh, "Fine, the world as you know it, is about to change. The Kerberos Mission wasn't lost because of some engine malfunctions or pilot error, it—STOP TOUCHING MY EQUIPMENT!" He snapped at Hunk once again, both shocking and disappointing him, as he flops onto the floor on his side.

Casey continued for Pidge, wanting to give the short brunette a break. "When we heard the news of the mission's failure, out of curiosity, we investigated it a little more. But, when we looked up the reports from the mission, they were all either blank or contradicting each other. So, we—or _Pidge_ I should say—made this equipment to scan the system. And dun, dun, duuuun," She paused, raising her hands in a dramatic fashion, "we found Alien radio chatter!"

"Whoa! Aliens?!" Hunk exclaimed.

"Okay, so you're both insane, got it." Lance said with a deadpan, only for Casey to smack his arm. "OW!" She glared at him with a cute pout. "We're serious. They keep repeating one word: 'Voltron'." Pidge said before he pulled out his notepad, flipping the pages until he landed on the scribbles he drew, then showed them to the other two boys. "And tonight, the chatter is going crazier than we've ever heard it."

Sirens suddenly start ringing throughout the school, interrupting their conversation.

_"Attention, students. This is not a drill, we are on lockdown! Security situation Zulu Niner. Repeat: all students are to remain in the barracks until further notice."_

"Is that a meteor?!" All of them whipped around to Hunk's direction and saw a glowing ball of light heading straight towards them. "A very, very big meteor?"

As quick as she could, Casey grabbed Pidge's binoculars and looked through, "Nope! It's an Alien ship—correction, a _crashing _Alien ship!"

Lance stood to the tall brunette, then grabbed the binoculars, "Holy cow! I can't believe what I'm seeing! That's not one of ours."

"No. It's one of theirs." Pidge stated.

"So, wait! There really are Aliens out there?!" Hunk stammered anxiously. Their eyes followed the ship as it continue to descend and crash-landing in front of the Garrison. Soon, all the school's vehicles started up and drove out to the crash site.

"We've got to see that ship!" Pidge exclaimed, who somehow packed up all his things in a few seconds, and ran off with Lance and Casey following behind.

"Hunk, come on!"

"Oh, this is the worst team-building exercise ever." Hunk grumbled.

—

Soon, they all reached the crash site and hid on a cliff. Lance pulled out the binoculars to look down at the side, "Whoa! What the heck is that thing? And who the heck is she?"

Casey facepalmed, while Pidge rolled his eyes at Lance's womanizing and promptly smacked the playboy behind the head, "Lance!"

"Ow! Right, alien ship. Man, we'll never get past all of those guards to get a look." Lance grumbled.

"Aw, man! Yeah, I guess there's nothing to do but head back to the barracks, right?" Hunk sighed in fake disappointment while slowly moving back.

"Wait! They set up a camera in there and I grabbed it's feed." Pidge is able to access the cameras set up by Garrison officials, "Look!" the three of them turned to Pidge and stared at the screen. It fuzzed a little before showing an image of some kind of a lab. There were some men in white cloaks to prevent them from infected by radiation and a man strapped tightly to a bed.

_"Hey! What are you doing?!" The man looked panicked, yelling at the masked scientists._

_"Calm down, Shiro. We just need to keep you quarantined until we run some tests."_

_"You have to listen to me! They destroy worlds! Aliens are coming!" _

Casey's eyes widened in recognition, "I know that guy! He's Shiro, the pilot from the Kerberos Mission!"

"Shiro?! That guy's my hero!" Lance exclaimed in awe. "Guess he's not dead in space, after all." Hunk commented.

"But, if he's here, then where is the rest of the crew?" Pidge questioned, holding her hand onto her chin in deep thought. The group continued to watch the feed, with Shiro trying to tell the scientists, but, none of them are listening to him.

_"Do you know how long you've been gone?"_

_"I don't know. Months? Years? Look, there's no time! Aliens are coming here for a weapon! They're probably on their way! They'll destroy us! We have to find Voltron!"_

"Voltron?!" Pidge and Casey gasped.

_"Sir, take a look at this. It appears his arm has been replaced with a cyborg prosthetic."_

_"Put him under until we know what that thing can do." _

_"Don't put me under! No! There's no time!"_

"They didn't even think to ask about the rest of the crew." Pidge said with a frown.

"What are they doing?! He's a legend! They're not even going to listen to him?!" Lance wondered aloud and they cringed at the scene of Shiro screaming in pain, as the scientist injected an anesthesia, making him go unconscious.

"We _have_ to get him out." Casey spoke up, concern and experience written across her features as she continued, "I recognize that kind of body movement anywhere. He's injured in the leg, from the looks of it, it's bad. _Very_ bad. He needs _proper _medical attention. _Now_."

"I hate to always be the voice of reason, but, weren't we watching on TV because there's no way to get past those guards?" Hunk questioned nervously. "That was before we were properly motivated! We just have to think...Could we tunnel in?" Lance asked.

Pidge raised his hand,"Maybe we could get some hazmat suits and sneak in like med techs."

"Or we dress up like cooks, head back to the dorms, sneak into the comissary-little late-night snack." Hunk suggested, earning weird looks from the other three.

Lance shook his head, "No, no. What we _need_ is a distraction." All of the sudden, loud explosions appeared around the site, causing a wave of panic around the area. "Is that the Aliens?! Is that the Aliens?! Are they here?! They got here so quick!" Hunk ducked down and covers his head in fright.

"Welp, there's a distraction. Look out below!" Casey shouts as she jumped down the cliff, ignoring all the boys calling out to her, and—after doing a few overly dramatic ninja moves and sound effects—snuck made her way to the site. As she got there, she spotted a black-haired boy hiding behind the rocks.

"Uhh...did someone call for back up?" Casey murmured to herself, watching as the boy rushed to the building.

Hearing footsteps, She turned around to see the boys racing towards her. "Dudes! You won't believe this! There was this guy—"

"I know!" Lance cut her off before he let out a growl, "He is _not_ going to beat us in there! That guy is always trying to one-up me!" Then, he ran past her and into the building.

"Is there something I should know about?" Casey asked to Pidge, who shrugged, before she, Hunk, and Pidge caught up behind Lance, just in time to see Keith free Shiro from the straps on the table.

"Nope! No, you—No, no, no! No, you don't, Keith. I'm saving Shiro." Lance stated as he grabbed Shiro's other arm and hooked it around his shoulders.

Ignoring her surroundings, especially the beaten-up scientist, Casey knelt to check Shiro's injured leg, using the tools from her newly-acquired H.M.O case—that one of the scientists set down nearby—then started scanning the unconscious pilot to treat his large injury, that began from his upper thigh to just under his shin.

"Who are you?" The newly dubbed, Keith, demanded. "Who am I? Uh, the name's Lance." He answered but Keith just stared at him with a blank look, "We were in the same class at the Garrison."

"Really? Are you an engineer?"

"No, I'm a pilot! We were, like, rivals. You know, Lance and Keith, neck and neck."

"Oh, wait. I remember you. You're a cargo pilot."

"Well, not anymore. I'm a fighter class now, thanks to you washing out."

"Well, congratulations."

Clearing her throat loudly, she caught everyone's attention, including the rivals, "Good news, the injury wasn't as bad as I thought, so he'll be okay. Bad news, he'll be out cold for a while...so, you two are gonna be lugging him around for a bit. Sorry."

Keith raised an eyebrow at her. "And how do you know that?" Casey gave him a blank look, gesturing to her case and H.M.O dog-tag necklace. Before he could reply, they heard footsteps drawing near, and so they quickly made a run for it.

They ran to Keith's vehicle, "Do you mind if we catch a ride with you?" Hunk asked.

"Yeah...I don't think this will hold all of us." Casey said, just as the vehicle fell back due to Hunk's weight. Getting an idea, Pidge leaned close to Casey's ear, whispering something unknown to the others. They both then got off the vehicle to the spacious area in front of the boys, all of whom—except Shiro, obviously—were shouting at the two. "Hey!" "What are you doing?!" "We are being chased here!"

Pidge turned to the three, putting his finger to his lips in a 'shh' motion. "Shhh, you'll ruin her concentration!" The three looked at the smaller boy questionably, then curiously turned their attention back to Casey. But, for some reason, her belly button was glowing pink. The tall brunette then spoke softly despite the echo in her voice that pierced through the area. Her eyes then glowed the same pinkish glow.

"Lion!"

A bigger pink glow, that went from the ground to above Casey's height, appeared along with a 'whoosh' and a large, pink lion jump out the glow. All the boys—except Pidge and Shiro—gaped at the scene, unbelieving of what they just saw, while the glow from Casey's eyes and belly button faded back to normal, same with the larger glow that sent the lion.

Giggling, the brunette jumped on the big cat, burying her face into it's fluffy mane as she spoke. "Oh! I haven't seen you since Christmas! And—Oh my gosh! You are just as cuddly as I remember! Did you miss me?~" The lion purred in response, causing her to giggle once more. "Keith, Hunk, Lance, this is Casey's teleporting-pet, Lion." Pidge explained, looking out in the distance to the men and women who were still going after them. "But, we'll explain more later. Casey and I will be right behind you guys, Keith, lead the way."

The dark haired boy nodded in head hesitantly, going in his vehicle to start driving. Hunk waved his hands, "Whoa, wait! Why do you two get to ride separately?!" Casey and Pidge were already on the lion, Pidge was in front while Casey was behind him. Casey shrugged at the big guy with a sly smirk. "Well, I don't see a problem letting you ride with us, though, I don't know if Lion would be cool with it."

Said animal growled at Hunk, who jumped away in fright, "O-On second thought, I think I'm alright."

—

**_Wow, that was some Chapter, huh? XD oh, and in case anyone asks, the reason why Stevonnie is a "she" instead of "they" is because when I originally wrote this, it was before the series ended _**and I had a theory that, due to Rose's essence in her Diamond, that added with Connie's would overrule Steven's and Stevonnie would be a "she" and vice versa if Steven Fused with another guy...oddly enough I'll still go with this theory because it just makes weird sense to me XD so, basically in order for one of Steven's fusions to be a "they" he would have to fuse with one guy AND one girl at the same time. Sorry if this sentence seems weird, btw, haven't written stuff on here for a while:/

Oh, and the reason why Stevonnie changed her name, will be revealed later down the track, though, it should be kinda obvious already, but the reviewers on my Quotev account didn't get it, so I'm just gonna assume that it's not as obvious as I thought it was :P


End file.
